Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy
has welcomed progress on Marina Park. In response to Cllr McCarthy’s question
on the floor of the most recent City Council meeting to the Chief Executive, he
was informed that Phase 1 of the contract commenced in early March 2020 with a
scheduled completion date of May 2021. Works were suspended on 30 March due to the COVID – 19 lock-down in accordance
with Government guidelines. Works resumed on site on 18 May following the
lifting of restrictions for construction works. The contractor is making great
progress on the works and is confident of achieving the scheduled completion
date of May 2021.
Phase
One, which covers the area from the Marquee Link Road (linking Monahan and
Centre Park roads) to Páirc Uí Chaoimh, also incorporates new pathways, the
installation of sunken lawn areas as well as the diversion of a watercourse.
The
current works comprise the creation of a new public car park at the Shandon
Boat Club end of the Marina, as well as a new cycle lane and pedestrian walkway
(all completed), and the installation of a prominent red steel pavilion on the
site of, and reproducing, the essence of the central hall of the former Munster
Showgrounds.
Liam
Casey, senior parks and landscape officer with the Council has noted in recent
weeks that this structure will be roofed, but the sides will not be enclosed,
and there will be opportunities for coffee pods and outdoor seating and arts
and crafts.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “there is local excitement about the Marina Park development. It is now over seven years since the Part 8 document came before the City Council. The park was held up in the early days due to a lack of funding but has since received funded from an Urban EU funding pot. This is enough finances to develop phase one of the park, which is basically the foundations and greening of the former brownfields site of the former showgrounds”.
However,
Cork City Council anticipates that it will go to tender later in November for
the second phase of its bold Marina Park project which will ultimately see the formation
of a contemporary city park, about five times the size of the famous
FitzGerald’s Park. Phase 2, which concentrates on development to
the east of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, takes in the Atlantic Pond and continues down as
far as Blackrock Village.
There is a great depth across the activities of the
various directorates of the Council. I think all our Directors bring a level of
openness, listening and hard work ethic, which is warranted and very welcome in
this challenging times.
Despite the cuts, there is still much work being
pursued as well as many opportunities being mined.
COVID may have drawn us into a worrying time about
finances but has clearly showed the resilience of this organisation.
The turning around of the various government financial
stimuli by this organisation in very short time frames has been impressive.
Certainly 12 months ago no one was predicting aspects such as the pedestrianisation
of 17 streets and urban spaces and the strong ramping up of work on walking and
cycling in our city.
We must not let that momentum on improving the
urban fabric and environment slow down but keep pressure on, and keep the
collaborations with traders and citizens effective and positive.
Perhaps the only certainly that goes with next year is
that there will undoubtedly be further financial challenges– but it is
important that we advance on preparing part 8s, whether it is for housing or
roads, and keep sending such plans to either government or the NTA for approval
respectively.
We have three 3 government cabinet Ministers from Cork – and I strongly think that we need a Microsoft Teams meeting with Minister McGrath in DPER to run over this Council’s ambitions in the short term.
What I learned recently from intervening with Minister
Ryan on his Teams meeting with us is that we should not assume as a Council
that all of the Cabinet are au fait with the Council’s work.
Where the meeting with Minister Ryan was very positive
and very open, I was still not content to hear the narrative of bungling Cork
in with Galway, Waterford and Limerick as just a mere regional city instead of
the country’s second city.
I would like to see a meeting with Minister McGrath
set up as soon as possible and that we liase with Minster Ryan early in the new
year.
It is important opportunities are seized to realise
the stepping stones on the way to achieving our ambitions.
Certainly, if you empower a local authority such as
Cork City Council, it will deliver in spades.
Douglas Community Park, early November 2020 (picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy) Douglas Community Park, early November 2020 (picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy) Douglas Community Park, early November 2020 (picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy) Douglas Community Park, early November 2020 (picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy) Douglas Community Park, early November 2020 (picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy) Douglas Community Park, early November 2020 (picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy)
Further calls from
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy to compulsory purchase order the derelict
Lakeland’s Bar site on Avenue De Rennes and its carpark have been rejected on the
grounds of cost by property officials in City Hall at the recent South East
Local Area Meeting. Cllr McCarthy noted; “this site is in a very poor condition
and is an eyesore in the area; it is also the key in unlocking the regeneration
of the area around it”.
“Cork City Council have acknowledged the poor condition of the Lakelands Bar site and the need for the removal of dereliction and to fill the giant potholes. To this end, a number of solutions have being considered by the Council in particular a full mapping of the landowners on this part of Avenue De Rennes. What has been revealed is a complex network of over a dozen owners of property in a small area. Such a network complicates the short term renewal of this part of Avenue de Rennes. What has become very apparent is the area needs a substantial packet of investment, probably from central government, so that the legal complexities can be began to unpicked, legal titles with liquidated owners gathered, and then new plans drawn up”.
“The look of the Lakelands bar building on the outside is atrocious. The adjacent car park also remains in limbo and is in dire need of resurfacing. The local people of Mahon deserve better than what is currently there. Such conditions completely jar against the very positive work of Mahon Community Centre and the Mahon Community Development Project and the community work of the local schools. On a positive note, the moving ahead of considering a public library in the adjacent secondary school is very welcome news”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.
1074a. Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Donal Óg O’Callaghan 1920 (picture: Cork City Museum)
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 12 November 2020
Remembering 1920: Arise Lord Mayor O’Callaghan
On 4 November 1920, a large public crowd attended at
City Hall’s Council Chamber. They were present to witness the special meeting
of the Council of Cork Corporation, which was being held with the
purpose of electing a successor to Lord Mayor Terence MacSwiney.
Councillor Donal Óg O’Callaghan, who acted in his capacity of Deputy
Lord Mayor since the arrest of Terence, was unanimously elected to the vacancy.
On the night of Donal’s election, with 34 members
of the 56 councilors present due to the ongoing war of Independence, Alderman
Professor Stockley was moved to the chair. Fr Dominic occupied a seat alongside
the Mayoral chair. On the motion of Cllr Micheál O’Cuill seconded by Alderman Edmond
Coughlan, both of whom spoke in Irish, Donal was unanimously elected to the
position of Lord Mayor. Some months previously on 10
March 1920 Sinn Féin‘s Donal Óg O’Callaghan emerged as a
victor in the first bye-election after the January 1920 local elections for
Cork Corporation. Donal was
a fluent Irish speaker and was the youngest representative to have ever held
the high and important office. He also occupied the Chairmanship of the Cork
County Council.
Donal, who was received with applause, then signed
his declaration of office and was invested with the Mayoral chain. First speaking
in Irish and afterwards in English the new Lord Mayor spoke about his
predecessors and the ongoing war with the British Government, and the
Republican position of not backing down in their aspirations for Independence; “Our
position was that one after another two Republicans who held thechair had
been murdered by the British government. That same murder gang, who called
themselves a Government, while the remains of Terence MacSwiney still lay over
the ground, and while it was still possible for that gang to heap insult on the
remains did so, and even then the same gang spread forth its tentacle
to seize the next man. However, my position was, and we are are setting it
forth this night as clearly and distinctly and glaringly as it could be possibly set forth, that we absolutely
refuse to be tyrannised…our demand in the country has been made, and we are
not going to flinch no matter what the result or cost might be”.
Following the Lord Mayor’s speech Alderman Tadgh Barry
raised the execution of 18-year-old Kevin Barry from Dublin on 1 November
1920, who became the first Republican to be executed since 1916. Kevin Barry
was an IRA section Commander who partook in various raids around Dublin city.
On 20 September 1920, he participated in a raid where a street gun battle ensued,
and three British soldiers were killed. Hiding under a tree Kevin was
discovered and brought to Mountjoy Prison, where he refused to reveal the
identity of his comrades. New legislation in 1920 had given military
authorities greater powers to quell increasing IRA activity. Barry had
privately admitted killing one soldier in an ambush and was tried as a soldier
under the legislation. He was hanged
for his crime. There was vast public outrage at the execution of a young man.
Alderman Tadgh Barry proposed a resolution: “That
we the Corporation of Cork place on record our condemnation of the latest
abominable crime, perpetrated by the British Government in Ireland in the
murder, by hanging of young Kevin Barry, and offer our respectful sympathy to
his patriot mother in her sorrow, and congratulations on her support of his refusal
to purchase his life by betraying his comrades to his torturer?”. Tadgh’s
motion was forwarded to the next meeting of the Council.
However, the deaths of young IRA
volunteers continued. On 10 November 1920, 22-year-old Christy Lucey was killed
at Túirín Dubh, Ballingeary, He took an active part in his local IRA company
and on one evening he slept in the rough on a hillside. As descended the
hillside the following morning, Christy was cornered by a group of Auxiliaries
of C Company from Macroom and shot dead as he attempted to escape. The
Auxiliary who shot him was himself soon executed by the IRA. When the Black and
Tan individual returned to Macroom that evening, he entered the Market Bar and
began to celebrate but was fatally shot.
Formerly a resident of Pembroke Street
in Cork City, Christy was a former member of B Company of the First Battalion
(Cork No. 1 Brigade) in Cork city. He was given an imposing funeral in the city
and was buried in the Republican Plot in St Finbarr’s Cemetery. Such an event
attracted much public interest including intimidating attention from British
military forces in Cork city. As the funeral cortege commenced, an armoured
car, in convoy with two lorries full of armed soldiers, arrived near the
church. The officer in charge served a notice on Rev. J F Murphy, which denoted
that only one hundred people would be allowed to take part in the cortege. As
the cortege left the South Chapel and emerged into George’s Quay, an armoured
car took up a position in the procession immediately before the carriages of
the mourners. The coffin was draped in the republican colours and was carried
on the shoulders of 4 Volunteers. On route to the cemetery, the paths along the
route were filled with spectators.
A day after Christopher Lucey’s murder on 11 November
1920, Lord Mayor O’Callaghan and Father O’Leary, CC, of the South Chapel,
received messages from Arthur Griffith, declaring that the Cork Hunger strike was
to be ceased at Cork Gaol. To Griffith the prisoners had “sufficiently proved
their devotion and fidelity, and that they should now, as they were prepared to
die for Ireland, prepare again to live for her”. A small quantity of
nourishment has been taken by the hunger strikers and it was hoped that they would
recover.
A new book on Lord
Mayor Donal Óg O’Callaghan’s life and times by UCC’s Dr Aodh Quinlivan and
entitled Forgotten Lord Mayor, Donal Óg O’Callaghan, 1920-1924, will be
published by Cork City Council this month.
Captions:
1074a. Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Donal Óg O’Callaghan 1920 (picture: Cork City Museum).
1074b. Christopher Lucey as a Cork Fianna member in 1916 (picture: Cork City Library).
1074b. Christopher Lucey as a Cork Fianna member in 1916 (picture: Cork City Library).
10 November 2020, “The motion was met with some resistance. Independent councillor Kieran McCarthy told the meeting he couldn’t support it. I just couldn’t support four male statues on Pana,” he said. I just think that the female context is completely forgotten from that time, the Cumann na mBan and all these other elements. There are busts of Mac Curtain, MacSwiney and Collins around the city, and there are places and streets named after them, he added”. Plan for statues of revolutionary figures in Cork vetoed for not including any women, https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-40079303.html
Ordinary Women in Extraordinary Times by Shandon Area History Group
Kieran’s Cork City Council Speech, 9 November 2020:
This part 8 is another very important addition to the story of Tramore Valley Park. I am happy that the Park 8 report has reflected upon the enthusiasm expressed in submissions and the issues raised by the submissions.
It is very important that Half-Moon Lane does not become an additional car park for the Park but a value added pedestrian and cycling access point. Funding now needs to be secured for this part 8 report to progress past this report.
Tramore park is just in its first
phase of development and this public consultation on a Half Moon Lane opening
is about ensuring that family, community and park life all remains at the heart
of the southern suburbs.
Phases two and three of the park,
such as a bridge crossing from Grange, are the next elements to chase now for
the future and to engage the public on their perspectives.
It is important to acknowledge at
public meetings such as this how far the site has come – Over the ten years,
the old landfill site of what is now Tramore Valley Park has undergone a €40m
decontamination and remediation process – part of which saw the site capped and
landscaped, internal roads and walkways constructed, new sports pitches put
down, a BMX track developed, and a large multi-use event space created”.
During the last few months in particular Tramore Valley Park was a second home to many people. Great credit is due to the park wardens onsite who are always friendly, as are the recycling staff. Tramore Valley Park has etched itself a jewel in the growing necklace of parks in the city, which are highly significant to the mental and physical health of citizens.
To ask the CE for the most recent update on progress associated with the re-opening of Daly’s Bridge? (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
Motions:
That info gathered from the
consultation on the Marina’s permanent pedestrianisation be presented to the
South East Local Area Committee (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
In light of ongoing work on Penrose Quay, that the unfinished Cork Main Drainage infrastructure feature upon the quay be finished (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
Arising from the difficulties with some
older buildings within the old medieval core, that a plan be put in place that
every single building be inspected from ground to roof on South and North Main
Streets, and on Washington Street – and the data be collated and presented to
the Planning SPC (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
That Cork City Council calls
upon central government to ensure that local authorities are allocated part
funding from the REACT-EU fund or Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the
Territories of Europe Fund (Cllr Kieran McCarthy). This will enable local
authorities such as Cork City Council to keep carrying out their work in job
creation and in the green and digital transition (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
Autumn at Ballinlough Community Park 2020 (Picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy)Autumn at Ballinlough Community Park 2020 (Picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy)Autumn at Ballinlough Community Park 2020 (Picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy)
